Recombinant polypeptide construct comprising multiple enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli fimbrial subunits

ABSTRACT

The inventive subject matter relates to a recombinant polypeptide construct comprising enterotoxigenic  Escherichia coli  fimbrial subunits. The recombinant polypeptide constructs comprise multiple subunits to the same or different ETEC fimbrial types. The constructs are useful for inclusion in immunogenic formulations for the inductin of immunity against entertoxigenic  Escherichia coli . The inventive subject matter also relates to the use of the recombinant polypeptide constructs in induce anti-enterotoxigenic  Escherichia coli.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part to U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 11/340,003, filed Jan. 10, 2006, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional application 60/642,771 filed Jan. 11, 2005, and a Continuation-in-Part to National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US2007/000712, filed Jan. 11, 2007, which claims priority to provisional application 60/758,099 filed Jan. 11, 2006, the contents herein are incorporated by reference. This application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional application 61/727,943, filed Nov. 19, 2012, the contents herein are incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The inventive subject matter relates to a method of inducing an immune response against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli using bacterial fimbrial components. The method contemplates using enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli major and minor fimbrial subunits, incorporated into a stabilizing construct, as immunogens.

2. Description of Related Art

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are a principal cause of diarrhea in young children in resource-limited countries and in travelers to these areas (Black, R. E. Rev. Infect. Dis. 12 (Suppl. 1): S73-79 (1990); Huilan, et al., Bull. World Health Organ. 69: 549-55 (1991)). ETEC-associated diarrheal disease is mediated by bacterial adherence to small intestinal epithelial cells and expression of a heat-labile (LT) and/or heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin (Nataro and Kaper, Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 11: 142-201 (1998)). ETEC typically attach to host cells via filamentous bacterial surface structures known as colonization factors (CFs). More than 20 different CFs have been described, a minority of which have been unequivocally incriminated in pathogenesis (Gaastra and Svennerholm, Trends Microbiol., 4: 444-452 (1996)).

Evidence for a pathogenic role exists for colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I), the first human-specific ETEC CF to be described. CFA/I is the archetype of a family of eight ETEC fimbriae that share genetic and biochemical features (Evans, et al., Infect. Immun., 12: 656-667 (1975); Gaastr and Svennerholm, Trends Microbiol., 4: 444-452 (1996); Grewal, et al., Infect. Immun., 65: 507-513 (1997)). This family includes coli surface antigen 1 (CS1), CS2, CS4, CS14, CS17, CS19 and putative colonization factor 071 (PCFO71). The complete DNA sequences of the gene clusters encoding CFA/I, CS1 and CS2 have been published (Froehlich, et al., Mol. Microbiol., 12: 387-401 (1994); Froehlich, et al., Infect. Immun., 63: 4849-56 (1995); Perez-Casal, et al., Infect. Immun. 58: 3594-3600 (1990); Scott, et al., Mol. Microbiol. 6: 293-300 (1992); Anantha, et al., Inf. And Imm., 72: 7190-7201 (2004)). The genes for the major subunit of two of the other related fimbriae have also been reported (Gaastra, et al., Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 292: 43-50 (2002); Grewal, et al., Infect. Immun. 65: 507-513 (1997). The four-gene bioassembly operons of CFA/I, CS1, and CS2 are similarly organized, encoding (in order) a periplasmic chaperone, major fimbrial subunit, outer membrane usher protein, and minor fimbrial subunit. CFA/I assembly takes place through the alternate chaperone pathway, distinct from the classic chaperone-usher pathway of type I fimbrial formation and that of other filamentous structures such as type IV pili (Ramer, et al., J. Bacteriol., 184: 3457-65 (2002); Soto and Hultgren., J. Bacteriol., 181: 1059-1071 (1999). Based on the primary sequence of the major fimbrial subunit, CFA/I and related fimbriae have been grouped as class 5 fimbriae.

Distinct from class 5 fimbriae, coli surface antigen 3 (CS3) represents the common adhesive fibrilla of the ETEC colonization factor antigen II (CFA/II) complex. ETEC expressing these antigens are prevalent in many parts of the world. Although the conformational nature of CS3 containing fibrillae are less understood than class 5 fimbriae, it is anticipated that these structures are important for eliciting anti-ETEC immune protection. Similarly, coli surface antigen 6 (CS6) (Tobias, et al., Vaccine., 26: 5373-5380 (2008)) has also been described and associated with ETEC mediated diarrheal disease (Gaastra and Svennerholm., Trends Microbiol., 4: 444-452 (1996); Qadri, et al., Clin. Microbiol., Rev. 18: 465-483 (2005); Sack, et al., Vaccine, 25: 4392-4400 (2007); Al-Gallas, et al., Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 77: 571-582 (2007)).

Studies of CS1 have yielded details on the composition and functional features of Class 5 fimbriae Sakellaris and Scott, Mol. Microbiol. 30: 681-687 (1998). The CS1 fimbrial stalk consists of repeating CooA major subunits. The CooD minor subunit is allegedly localized to the fimbrial tip, comprises an extremely small proportion of the fimbrial mass, and is required for initiation of fimbrial formation (Sakellaris, et al., J. Bacteriol., 181: 1694-1697 (1999). Contrary to earlier evidence suggesting that the major subunit mediates binding (Buhler, et al., Infect. Immun. 59: 3876-3882 (1991), findings have implicated the minor subunit as the adhesin and identified specific amino acid residues required for in vitro adhesion of CS1 and CFA/I fimbriae Sakellaris, et al., PNAS (USA) 96: 12828-12832 (1999). The inferred primary amino acid structure of those major subunits that have been sequenced share extensive similarity. Serologic cross-reactivity of native fimbriae is, however, limited, and the pattern of cross-reactivity correlates with phylogenetically defined subtaxons of the major subunits (Gaastra, et al., Int. J. Med. Microbiol., 292: 43-50 (2002).

Studies to examine the evolutionary relationships of the minor and major subunits of Class 5 ETEC fimbriae as well as the two assembly proteins have been conducted (Anantha, et al., Inf. Imm., 72: 7190-7201 (2004)). The results demonstrated that evolutionary distinctions exist between the Class 5 major and minor fimbrial subunits and that the minor subunits function as adhesins.

The major subunit alleles of CS4, CS14, CS17 and CS19 gene clusters each showed 99-100% nucleotide sequence identity with corresponding gene sequence(s) previously deposited in GenBank, with no more than four nucleotide differences per allele. Each locus has four open reading frames that encoded proteins with homology to the CFA/I class chaperones, major subunits, ushers and minor subunits. As previously reported Gaastra, et al., Int. J. Med. Microbiol., 292: 43-50 (2002), the one exception was for the CS14 gene cluster, which contained two tandem open reading frames downstream of the chaperone gene. Their predicted protein sequences share 94% amino acid identity with one another and are both homologous to other Class 5 fimbriae major subunits.

Examination of the inferred amino acid sequences of all the protein homologs involved in Class 5 fimbrial biogenesis reveals many basic similarities. Across genera, each set of homologs generally share similar physicochemical properties in terms of polypeptide length, mass, and theoretical isoelectric point. All of the involved proteins contain an amino-terminal signal peptide that facilitates translocation to the periplasm via the type II secretion pathway. None of the major subunit proteins contain any cysteine residues, while the number and location of six cysteine residues are conserved for all of the minor subunits except that of the Y. pestis homolog 3802, which contains only four of these six residues.

Type 1 and P fimbriae have been useful models in elucidating the genetic and structural details of fimbriae assembled by the classical chaperone-usher pathway (23, 24, 25). An outcome of work with type 1 and P fimbriae (Kuehn, et al., Nature, 356: 252-255 (1992); Sauer, et al., Science, 285: 1058-1061 (1999); Choudhury, et al., Science, 285: 1061-1066 (1999)) has led to the development of the principle of donor strand complementation, a process in which fimbrial subunits non-covalently interlock with adjoining subunits by iterative intersubunit sharing of a critical, missing β-strand (Barnhart, et al, PNAS (USA), 97: 7709-7714 (2000); Viboud, et al., Microb. Athogen, 21: 139-147 (1996)).

The eight ETEC Class 5 fimbriae clustered into three subclasses of three (CFA/I, CS4, and CS14), four (CS1, PCFO71, CS17 and CS19), and one (CS2) member(s) (referred to as subclasses 5a, 5b, and 5c, respectively) (21). Previous reports demonstrated that ETEC bearing CFA/I, CS2, CS4, CS14 and CS19 manifest adherence to cultured Caco-2 cells (6, 22). However, conflicting data have been published regarding which of the component subunits of CFA/I and CS1 mediate adherence (19, 20).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a recombinant polypeptide construct expressing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) fimbrial subunits. The composition is useful as an immunogenic composition against ETEC strains.

In a preferred embodiment, the composition comprises a recombinant polypeptide construct design wherein major or minor subunits, derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type, are connected, via polypeptide linkers, and stabilized by donor strand complementation. The C-terminal most ETEC major subunit is connected, via a linker, to a donor strand region from an ETEC major subunit, which can be either homologous or heterologous to the C-terminal major subunit. The immunogenic composition can comprise a whole or an immunogenic fragment, containing a donor β strand region, of the ETEC fimbrial major or minor subunits. In some construct examples, in order to avoid inadvertent association of subunits, especially in CS6 subunits to each other, major ETEC fimbrial subunits can contain an N-terminal deletion of 14 to 18 amino acids.

In another embodiment one or more of the above constructs are connected, via a polypeptide linker, to form a multipartite fusion construct, wherein the subunits derived from multiple fimbrial types are expressed. In this embodiment, the fimbrial subunits can be derived from any ETEC fimbrial types, including, but not limited to: ETEC class 5 fimbriae type, including class 5a, 5b or 5c; ETEC CS3; and ETEC CS6.

The embodied multipartite construct can contain a deletion of the N-terminal region of one or more fimbrial subunits to avoid undesirable associations with other monomers or multimers and to remove reduce amino acid sequence length between polypeptides to reduce the protease cleavage.

DNA encoding the recombinant polypeptide construct can be used to express a polypeptide for inclusion into immunogenic compositions, such as a subunit vaccine or the DNA encoding the recombinant polypeptide construct can be inserted into a suitable expression system such as a DNA plasmid, viral expression or bacterial vector. As such, an object of the invention also includes a use of the construct for immunizing mammals, including humans, against ETEC strains. The embodied use comprises one or more priming administrations of one or more of the immunogenic compositions, either as a subunit vaccine or expressed from a molecular construct inserted into an appropriate expression system, such as a live vaccine. The priming dose can be subsequently followed by one or more boosting doses of construct expressed as a subunit vaccine or as a recombinant construct inserted in a DNA plasmid, viral or bacterial expression vector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Illustration of inventive construct design wherein major or minor subunits, derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type are connected, via polypeptide linkers and stabilized by donor strand complementation. The construct can contain a deletion of the N-terminal region of the N-terminal subunit. This feature prevents undesirable association with other monomers or multimers. The deletion also reduces amino acid sequence length between polypeptides, that are not involved in domain folding and precludes or reduces the likelihood of inter-subunit protease cleavage. The C-terminal subunit is stabilized by a donor β strand, connected to the subunit via a polypeptide linker, wherein the donor β strand is either derived from a homolgous subunit, which is defined as a subunit that is the same as the subunit the donor strand is stabilizing or from a heterologous subunit, defined as derived from a subunit that is different still from the same fimbrial type.

FIG. 2. Illustration of multipartite construct design wherein multiple compositions, illustrated in FIG. 1, are connected via a polypeptide linker. The first subunit, is a major or minor (e.g., ETEC class 5 adhesin) ETEC fimbrial subunit. One or more major ETEC fimbrial subunits are then connected to the first subunit and to each other via a linker, wherein the subunits are stabilized by donor strand complementation. The C-terminal most ETEC major subunit is connected, via a linker, to a donor strand region from an ETEC major subunit, which can be either homologous or heterologous to the terminal major subunit. In some construct examples, in order to avoid inadvertent association of subunits, especially in CS6 subunits, to each other, major ETEC fimbrial subunits can contain an N-terminal deletion of 14 to 18 amino acids. Deletion of amino acid sequence length, not involved in folding, also reduces the likelihood of proteolytic degradation.

FIG. 3. Diagram of phylogenetic relationship of strains used.

FIG. 4. Enhanced immunogenicity of adhesin-pilin fusions compared to the prototype dscCfaE (CfaE) adhesin. Panel A shows hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against CFA/1-ETEC (upper), CS14-ETEC (middle), and CS4-ETEC (lower graph). Panel B shows serum IgG titers against CFA/I (upper), CS14 (middle) and CS4 (lower) fimbriae. Note that the middle and lower graphs in each panel display a different y-axis scale to that of the corresponding upper graphs. The shorthand protein names shown in the graph labels and corresponding full names are as follows: CfaE, dsc₁₉CfaE(His)₆; CfaEB, dsc₁₉CfaE-CfaB[His]₆; CfaEB-CsuA2, dsc₁₅CfaEB-CsuA2-[His]₆; and CfaEB-CsuA2-CsfA, dsc₁₅CfaEB-CsuA2-CsfA[His]₆; mLT, LTR192G.

FIG. 5. Enhanced immunogenicity of a Class 5c adhesion-pilin fusion compared to dscCotD (CotD) adhesin. Panel (A) shows HAI titer. Panel (B) shows anti-CS2 IgG response.

FIG. 6. Enhanced immunogenicity of Class 5b adhesin-pilin fusion compared to the prototype dscCsbD (CsbD) adhesin. Panel (A) shows HAI titer. Panel (B) shows anti-CS1 or anti-CS17 IgG responses.

FIG. 7. Immunity of CS6 constructs, in rabbits. Shown are the serum IgG titers following administration of CS6; dscCssB or dscCssA antigen.

FIG. 8. Comparison of immunity in mice following administration of CS6 monomers, heterodimers and homodimers.

FIG. 9. Hemaglutination-inhibition (HAI) titer and serum reactivity of dscCstH compared to non-cvalently linked oligomer (3-14 subunits) of CstH (denoted as CstH(i)). CstH(i) was isolated by capture of attached intein (“i”), which was cleaved from the intein-CstH fusion product.

FIG. 10. Hemaglutining inhibition (HAI) and serum reactivity of dscCstG compared to oligommer (3-14 subunits) of CstG (denoted as CstG(i).

FIG. 11. Immune and HAI responses of multimeric donor strand complemented CstH. In the figure, H=dscCstH; H2=dscCstH2; H3=dscCstH3; H4=dscCstH4; H5=dscCstH5.

FIG. 12. Immune response to stabilized CS3-based heterodimers and tetramers. Immune responses, as measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) against CS3-ETEC (Panel A), and serum IgG anti-CS3 titers (Panel (B) are shown for serum drawn two weeks after the last dose (day 42). Abbreviations: GH, dsc₁₆CstGH; HG, dsc₁₆CstHG; GHGH, dsc₁₆CstGHGH; HGHG, dsc₁₆CstHGHG; and HHGH, dsc₁₆CstHHGH. All recombinant oligomers were engineered using in cis donor strand complementation.

FIG. 13. Examples of CS3 multipartite protein construct using construct design of FIG. 1.

FIG. 14. Examples of CS6 multipartite protein constructs using construct design of FIG. 1.

FIG. 15. Summary of data illustrating that that a multipartite fusion, CsbDA-CooA-CstGH, comprising subunits from a Class 5 ETEC fimbrial type, i.e., CsbDA-CooA and a CS3 fimbrial type, i.e., CstGH, retains the immunogenic effects of the fimbrial types. The shorthand protein names shown in the graph labels and corresponding full names are as follows: CsbDA-CooA, dsc₁₅CsbDA-CooA [His]₆; CstGH, dsc₁₆CstGH(His)₆; CsbDA-CooA+CstGH, an admixture of CsbDA-CooA and CstGH; CsbDA-CooA-CstGH, the multipartite fusion dsc₁₄CsbDA-CooA-ntd₁₈dsc₁₆CstGH(His)₆.

FIG. 16. Comparison of immunogenicity of CS3 fusion constructs against admixture of constructs. The groups listed on the x-axis are described in Table 9. In the figure, “Fu”=fusion; “Ad”=admixture; filled bars equate to administration with 100 ng of mLT; open bars equates to giving vaccine without mLT.

FIG. 17. Comparison of HAI titer of CS3 fusion construct examples against admixture of constructs. The groups listed on the x-axis are described in Table 9.

FIG. 18. Summary of data illustrating that a multipartite fusion, CfaEB-CssBA, comprising subunits from a Class 5 ETEC fimbrial type, i.e., CfaEB and a CS6 fimbrial type, i.e., CssBA, retains the immunogenic effects of the fimbrial types. Panel (A) shows the HAI titer for CFA/I and CS14. Panel (B) shows the IgG titer for CFA/I, CS6 and CfaE. The shorthand protein names shown in the graph labels and corresponding full names are as follows: CfaEB, dsc₁₉CfaEB[His]₆; CssBA, dsc_(16A)CssBA(His)₆; CfaEB+CssBA, an admixture of CfaEB and CssBA; CfaEB-CssBA, the multipartite fusion dsc₁₄CfaEB-G-dsc_(16A)CssBA(His)₆.

FIG. 19. Anti-CS6 fimbrial subunit IgG immune responses. The x-axis represents the antigens administered as in the table in FIG. 19. The darkly shaded bars represent response to CssB and the lightly shaded bars indicate response to CssA antigen. Therefore, the bars indicate the IgG response to the component CS6 fimbrial subunits CssB or CssA. In the figure, all mice received doses containing 100 ng of mLT, as in FIG. 19, with the exception of some mice receiving a CfaEB-CssBA (or CssAB) constructs, as indicated in the figure.

FIG. 20. Anti-CS6 fimbrial subunit IgA immune responses. Each bar represents the pooling of murine serum from mice immunized as in FIG. 19. The mice received doses containing 100 ng of mLT with the exception of the bars, indicated in all white.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The terms “polypeptide,” “peptide,” and “protein” as used herein can be interchangeably used, and refer to a polymer formed of two or more amino acid residues, wherein one or more amino acid residues are naturally occurring amino acids. The term “amino acid sequence” refers to the order of the amino acids within a polypeptide. As used, herein, “oligomer” are polypeptides sequences comprising relatively few amino acids.

The term “recombinant polypeptide”, “recombinant polypeptide construct”, or “recombinant protein”, as used herein, refers to polypeptides or proteins produced by recombinant DNA techniques, i.e., produced from cells transformed by an exogenous DNA construct encoding the desired polypeptide or the desired protein. The term “recombinant construct” refers to the DNA encoding the recombinant polypeptide, recombinant polypeptide construct or recombinant protein.

The term “donor strand” or “donor β strand” refers to the N-terminal region of an ETEC fimbrial subunit that associates with another ETEC fimbrial subunit in donor strand complementation.

The term “immunogenic composition” refers to a formulation containing proteins or polypeptides and other constitutions that induce a humoral and/or cellular immune response. The term “immunogenic coverage” or “spectrum of coverage” refers to the induction of humoral and/or cellular immune response against specific strains of bacteria under the “coverage.” The term “immunogenic fragment” refers to a polypeptide containing one or more B- or T-cell epitopes and is of sufficient length to induce an immune response or to be recognized by T- or B-cells. The term “derivative” refers to a polypeptide or nucleic acid sequence with at least 80% identity with sequence of the identified gene. In this context, “identity” refers to two or more sequences or subsequences that are the same or have a specified percentage of amino acid residues that are the same, when aligned for maximum correspondence. Where some sequences differ in conservative substitutions, i.e., substitution of residues with identical properties, the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for the conservative nature of the substitution. Percent similarity refers to proportion of identical and similar (conserved change) residues.

“Fimbriae” are defined as projections or filaments on ETEC bacteria and are composed of major subunits, as in the case of CS3 and CS6 fimbriae or major and minor subunits, as in the case of class 5a, 5b and 5c ETEC. “Fibrillae” are narrow projections from a bacteria. CS3 and CS6 fimbriae can also be termed fibrillae due to their narrow characteristic. The term “fimbrial subunit” refers to the proteins that comprise ETEC fimbriae and is used interchangeably with “pilin.” “Pilin”, therefore, can refer to a “major” or “minor” “fimbrial subunit” that comprise ETEC fimbriae. A “minor fimbrial subunit” refers to the adhesin protein at the tip of class 5 ETEC fimbriae and is expressed in stoichiometrically low amounts compared to “major” subunits. The “minor fimbrial subunits” include, but are not limited to, CfaE, CsfD, CsuD, CooD, CosD, CsdD, CsbD and CotD. “Major fimbrial subunits” refers to the ETEC fimbrial proteins represented in stoichiometrially larger amounts in ETEC fimbriae, compared to “minor fimbrial subunits.” “Major fimbrial subunits” include the ETEC class 5 proteins: CfaB, CsfA, CsuA2, CsuA1, CooA, CosA, CsdA, CsbA, CotA; the ETEC CS3 proteins: CstH, CstG; and the ETEC CS6 proteins: CssA, and CssB. A “fusion” is defined herein as two molecules covalently connected. Therefore, an “adhesin-pilin” fusion is a major or minor ETEC fimbrial subunit connected, covalently, to a Class 5 adhesin.

The term “fimbrial type” refers to fimbrial proteins derived from fimbriae of different ETEC types. The different “fimbrial types”, as used in this application include, but are not limited to, CS6, which include CssA and CssB; CS3, which include CstH and CstG; ETEC Class 5a; ETEC Class 5b and ETEC Class 5c fimbriae.

The term “homologous subunit” is defined as a subunit that is an identical type to the subunit to which it is connected. The term “heterologous subunit” refers to a subunit that is a different type from the subunit to, which it is connected but that is derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type.

The present invention relates to recombinant polypeptide constructs for use in an immunogenic composition and to a method for using the composition to induce an immune response against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. The inventive composition utilizes a construct design that incorporates ETEC fimbrial subunits from multiple ETEC fimbrial types. Fimbrial types include, but are not limited to Class 5a, 5b, and 5c, as well as CS3, and CS6, in order to obtain broad anti-ETEC immunity. The construct also enables association of subunits, such as in CS3 and CS6 and stabilization of the subunits from proteolytic degradation, through donor strand complementation.

FIG. 1 illustrates the basic recombinant polypeptide construct design. As diagrammed in FIG. 1 the construct design comprises major or minor subunits, derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type, which are connected, via polypeptide linkers and stabilized by donor strand complementation. The construct can contain a deletion of the N-terminal region (“ntd”) of the N-terminal subunit. This feature prevents undesirable associations with other monomers or multimers. The size of the deletion of the N-terminal region is 14 to 18 amino acids.

The C-terminal subunit is connected to and stabilized by a donor β strand, connected to the subunit via a polypeptide linker, wherein the donor β strand is either derived from the adjacent subunit (i.e., homologous) or from a different subunit of the same fimbrial type (i.e., heterologous). The size of the N-terminal donor strand depends on the fimbrial type and stabilized subunit. In preferred embodiments, for class 5 fimbrial subunits, the donor β strand, derived from the N-terminal region of the class 5 subunit stabilized, is 12 to 16 amino acids. In a preferred embodiment, for CS3 and CS6 subunits, the donor β strand is 14 to 16 amino acids.

FIG. 2 illustrates the basic multipartite construct, wherein multiple constructs as in FIG. 1, are connected forming a recombinant polypeptide construct comprising two or more fimbrial types. As illustrated in FIG. 1, major or minor subunits from the same fimbrial type are connected via a polypeptide linker sequence. In the multipartite construct, two or more constructs, as in FIG. 1, are connected, via a linker polypeptide.

In the multipartitie construct design, as in the basic design (compare FIG. 1 with FIG. 2), the first subunit (N-terminal) is a major or minor ETEC fimbrial subunit. Each additional subunit is connected to adjacent subunits via a polypeptide linker that enables rotary freedom of the molecular components. The subunits are associated with and stabilized via a donor strand complementation from a C-terminally adjacent subunit via a donor β strand, connected via a linker polypeptide, to the C-terminus of the stabilized subunit. In some embodiments, subunits can contain a deletion of 14 to 18 amino acids from its N-terminal end. Additionally, specific constructs can be constructed with or without signal peptides of 18 to 22 amino acids and with or without histidine tags at the C-terminus.

In the multipartite construct, subunits from the same fimbrial type are directly connected. Groupings of subunits from the same fimbrial type are then connected to other groupings of subunits from other fimbrial types. Fimbrial types include, but are not limited to ETEC class 5a, 5b, 5c, CS3 and CS6. For example a single construct can include subunits derived from any two or more of class 5a, 5b, 5c, CS3 and CS6 fimbrial types.

Multiple linker sequences can be utilized in connecting the individual subunits. Examples of specific linkers include the tetrapeptide of SEQ ID No. 5. Another example is a tri-glycine linker (i.e., G-G-G). In the inventive construct, in cis donor strand complementation is used to stabilize adhesins and adhesin-pilin fusions for representative Class 5a, 5b, and 5c adhesins. A summary of the phylogenetic relationships of Class 5 minor (i.e., adhesins) and major subunits is illustrated in FIG. 3.

The contemplated composition is designed to enable as wide a range of coverage of ETEC strains as possible. As such, in one embodiment, the contemplated composition and use is aimed at inducing immunogenic response against class 5a, 5b, 5c ETEC, as well as ETEC strains expressing CS3 or CS6 fimbrial components.

Example 1 Recombinant Anti-ETEC Construct

Immunity to ETEC adhesin is important in reducing colonization of ETEC bacteria. However, the minor subunits (i.e., adhesin), the contact site of ETEC bacteria to the intestimal lumen, of ETEC Class 5 fimbriae are stoichiometrically represented in very low numbers relative to the major subunit. Therefore, in immunogenic compositions, it is important to enhance the immune recognition of the minor subunit over that not normally found in natural fimbriae.

Since fimbrial subunits, such as CfaE, are relatively susceptible to proteolytic degradation outside of the fimbrial structure, stabilization of the adhesin is also important. Therefore, constructs are designed to express ETEC subunits stabilized from misfolding and degradation by donor strand complementation. The donor β strand is provided by the major fimbrial subunit. For example, in the case of CfaE, stabilization is provided by the N-terminal region of CfaB. Engineering of dscCfaE by incorporation of a donor peptide strand from the N-terminus of the CFA/I major subunit CfaB at its C-terminus transformed an insoluble, unwieldy native, recombinant protein into a stable immunogenic composition (Savarino, U.S. Patent application publication no. 20060153878 (13 Jul. 2006)), which is incorporated by reference, herein.

Based on its atomic structure, dscCfaE is folded into a native, β-sandwich conformation, consisting of two half-barrels, comprising the N-terminal adhesin domain (CfaEad) a short α-helical connector, and the C-terminal pilin domain (CfaEpd). The molecule is functional in that it directly mediates MRHA of bovine and human erythrocytes, and generates neutralizing antibodies that act to inhibit MRHA and decorate the tips of CFA/I fimbriae on immunoelectron microscopy.

A fusion protein was engineered by genetic insertion of the coding sequence for mature major structural subunit of ETEC adhesin, such as CfaB, to the 3′-end of the minor subunit, such as CfaE. This concept was disclosed in Savarino, U.S. patent application (Ser. No. 11/340,003, filed Jan. 10, 2006), which is incorporated, herein. This molecule contains all three domains of the CFA/I fimbriae (i.e., ad, pd, and major subunit) in a ratio of 1:1:1, rather than that found in native fimbriae (ca. 1:1:1000).

A number of observations indicate the suitability of dscCfaE (cloned from ETEC strain E7473) as a vaccine antigen. First, sequencing of 31 different wild type alleles of cfaE from ETEC isolates of varying geographic origin and serotypes, show that the gene and predicted polypeptide sequence are nearly invariant, with three different nonsynonymous nucleotide changes at one site each in only five of these 31 alleles (Chattopadhyay, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 287(9): 6150-6158 (2012)). Hence, the target protein shows uniformity in natural ETEC bacterial populations.

Additionally, CfaE, a Class 5a fimbrial adhesin, is 80-81% identical with the other Class 5a minor subunits proteins adhesins CsuD of CS14 fimbriae and CsfD of CS4 fimbriae. CsuD and CsfD share 94% identity. This is considerably higher than the average identity with other Class 5b and 5c fimbrial adhesins (mean 50% identity).

Moreover, rabbit anti-dscCfaE serum cross-neutralizes CS4- and CS14-ETEC in the hemagglutination assay (HAI). A number of vaccination studies have been performed in small (rabbit and mice) and large (monkeys and cows) animals with various routes of administration and adjuvant combinations showing that dscCfaE is a potent immunogen that can elicit systemic and mucosal antibodies which recognize dscCfaE and CFA/I and are neutralizing (as measured by HAI assay).

An embodiment includes anti-class 5 ETEC constructs based on the construct design illustrated in FIG. 1, whereby the N-terminal subunit is an ETEC class 5 minor (i.e., adhesin) subunit, listed in Table 1, including CfaE, CsfD, CsuD, CooD, CsdD, CosD, CsbD and CotD, connected, via a polypeptide linker, to one or more ETEC major subunits, from the same ETEC class 5 type, listed in Table 1. The polypeptide linker can be any of a number of polypeptide sizes. In a preferred embodiment, the linker is a tetrapeptide with the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID No. 5. The C-terminal class 5 subunit is connected to a donor β strand, derived from a homologous subunit and is typically 12-19 amino acids. In alternative embodiments, one or more major subunit can include a deletion of 12 to 16 amino acids from the N-terminal region of the subunit.

The design in FIG. 1, utilizes the concepts disclosed in Savarino, U.S. patent application (Ser. No. 11/340,003, filed Jan. 10, 2006)), including donor strand complementation to provide stabilized class 5 ETEC adhesin. Due to the homology of ETEC class 5 minor subunits and major subunits, FIG. 1 further contemplates multiple constructs incorporating the fimbrial subunits of Table 1, or deriviates of these polypeptides or DNA sequences.

TABLE 1 SEQ ID No. (DNA of SEQ ID No. mature length (Full length SEQ ID Immune (except as polypeptide No. (Mature coverage Subunit indicated) including spd¹) polypeptide) Class 5a CfaE 56 57 58 CfaB 59 60 61 CsfD 64 65 88 CsfA 62 63 89 CsuD 70 71 90 CsuA2 68 69 91 CsuA1 66 67 92 Class 5b CooD 74 75 93 CooA 72 73 94 CsdD 78 79 95 CsdA 76 77 96 Cos D 82 83 97 CosA 80 81 98 CsbD 44 45 46 CsbA 47 48 49 Class 5c CotD 50 51 52 CotA 53 54 55

The construct design, illustrated in FIG. 1, incorporates the donor strand complementation stabilization features of Savarino (U.S. patent application (Ser. No. 11/340,003, filed Jan. 10, 2006)), and furthers it by incorporating multiple major subunits, from a specific ETEC type, into a single adhesin-pilin construct. For example, multiple class 5b major subunits can be connected to a class 5b adhesin (i.e, minor subunit). Embodiments include adhesin-pilin constructs containing Csb D (ETEC Class 5b fimbrial adhesin) and Cot D (ETEC Class 5c fimbrial adhesin). Examples, for illustration, of embodiments of adhesin-pilin ETEC class 5 adhesin-pilin constructs, representing Class 5a, 5b and 5c are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Fimbriae SEQ ID No. class (Protein/ represented Construct (adhesin-pilin) example¹ DNA)³ Class 5a dsc_(14CsfA)CfaE-CfaB-CsuA2-CsfA 103/104 Class 5b dsc_(14CsbA)CsbD-CsbA-ntd₁₅dsc_(14CooA)CooA² 105/106 Class 5b dsc_(15CooA)CsbD-CsbA-CooA² 107/108 Class 5c dsc_(14CotA)CotD-CotA 109/110 ¹dsc refers to donor strand complementation. The number and subunit refers to the N-terminal amino acids of length represented by the number from the subunit indicated that is connected at the C-terminus of the construct and is serving to stabilize the C-terminal construct. For example, “dsc_(14CsfA)” refers to the N-terminal 14 amino acids of CsfA connect to the C-terminus of the construct. ²Linkers polypeptides are GGG rather than DNKQ. ³Sequence in example contains a Leu-Glu-His6 at the C-terminus.

Examination of immunogenicity of the class 5 constructs (i.e., adhesin-pilin listed in Table 2) were conducted. The results of these studies show an enhanced immunogenicity of adhesin-pilin fusions compared to prototype dscCfaE (CfaE) adhesin, the results of which are shown in FIG. 4.

In these studies, groups of five BALB/c mice were vaccinated intradermally with each protein at molar equivalent doses (doses normalized to contain 5 μg of each pilin subunit) co-administered with the adjuvant LTR192G (i.e., mLT, 100 ng). Mice were vaccinated three times at 0, 14, and 28 days. The displayed titers are from serum collected at day 42.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, Panel A shows the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against CFA/1-ETEC (upper), CS14-ETEC (middle), and CS4-ETEC (lower graph). Elevated HAI titers against CS14-ETEC and CS4-ETEC coincide with the addition of CS14 (CsuA2) and CS4 (CsfA) pilins, respectively. Panel B shows serum IgG titers against CFA/I (upper), CS14 (middle) and CS4 (lower) fimbriae. Augmented serum anti-fimbrial titers to CFA/I, CS14, and CS4 coincide with the addition of CFA/I (CfaB), CS14 (CsuA2) and CS4 (CsfA) pilins, respectively. Each recombinant protein was stabilized by in cis donor strand complementation.

Similar results are illustrated for CsbD and CotD adhesin, the results of which are shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 illustrates the enhanced immunogenicity of a Class 5c adhesin-pilin fusion compared to the prototype dscCotD (CotD) adhesin. In the adhesin-pilin protein shown in FIG. 5, the CS2 pilin (CotA) is fused to the C-terminus of dscCotD, wherein each component protein is stabilized by in cis donor strand complementation. Groups of ten BALB/c mice were vaccinated intranasally with 25 μg of each protein, co-administered with the adjuvant LTR192G (1.5 μg). Mice were vaccinated three times at 0, 14, and 28 days. The displayed titers are from serum collected at day 42. Panel A displays serum hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against CS2-ETEC. Addition of the CS2 pilin is associated with an elicitation of higher homologous HAI titers. Panel B shows serum IgG titers against CS2 fimbriae. Illustrated in FIG. 5 is an augmentation of serum anti-fimbrial IgG titers, coinciding with the addition of the CS2 (CotA) pilin. Data is displayed as the geometric mean titer plus standard error of the mean. The horizontal dotted line in each graph shows the limit of assay detection. The shorthand protein names shown in the graph labels and corresponding full names are as follows: CotD, dsc₁₉CotD(His)₆; and CotDA, dsc₁₅CotD-CotA[His]₆.

FIG. 6 illustrates the response of the construct example “dsc_(14CsbA)CsbD-CsbA-ntd₁₅dsc_(14CooA)CooA”, shown in Table 2. Similar to that in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 shows enhanced immunogenicity of Class 5b adhesin-pilin fusions compared to the prototype dscCsbD (CsbD) adhesin. In the two Class 5b adhesin-pilin proteins, the following Class 5b pilin components were successively fused to dscCsbD; CS17 pilin (CsbA), and CS1 pilin (CooA). Groups of ten BALB/c mice were vaccinated intranasally with 25 μg of each protein, co-administered with the adjuvant LTR192G (1.5 μg). Mice were vaccinated three times at 0, 14, and 28 days. The displayed titers are from serum collected at day 42. Panel A displays hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against (from upper to lower panels) CS17-ETEC, CS19-ETEC, and CS1-ETEC, PCFO71-ETEC, and CFA/1-ETEC. Similarly elevated HAI titers against all of ETEC expressing each of the four Class 5b fimbriae were elicited, while the largest fusion, dscCsbDA-CooA also elicited elevated HAI to ETEC expressing the heterologous Class 5a fimbriae CFA/I. Panel B shows serum IgG titers against CS17 fimbriae (upper) and CS1 fimbriae (lower). Augmented serum anti-fimbrial titers to CS17 and CS1 coincide with the addition of CS17 (CsbA) and CS1 (CooA) pilins, respectively. Data is displayed as the geometric mean titer+standard error of the mean, with the exception of CS19-ETEC and PCFO71-ETEC HAI, for which a single value was derived (average of duplicate runs) from group pooled sera. The horizontal dotted line in each graph shows the limit of assay detection. The shorthand protein names shown in the graph labels and corresponding full names are as follows: CsbD, dsc₁₉CsbD(His)₆; CsbDA, dsc₁₅CsbD-CsbA[His]₆; and CsbDA-CooA, dsc₁₅CsbDA-CooA [His]₆. Each recombinant protein has been stabilized by in cis donor strand complementation.

Example 2 CS6 and CS3

Rabbit model (RITARD) studies suggest the colonization factor CS6 and CS3 has immune-protective potential (Svennerholm, et al., Infect. Immun. 56: 523-528 (1988); Svennerholm, et al., Infect. Immun. 58: 341-346 (1990)). As such, an important technical goal is to reproduce a stabilized CS6 expressing recombinant structure expressing CS6 antigens that maximally elicits antibody responses inhibitory to CS6-directed adhesion.

Unlike class 5 ETEC fimbriae, the fimbrial structures may function as polyadhesins rather than monadhesins (Zavialov, et al., FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 31: 478-514 (2007)). Extrapolation from related fimbriae, assembly of ETEC CS6 and CS3 may be mediated by a donor strand complementation mediated process through association of a CS6 or CS3 subunit with the N-terminal donor strand region of an adjacent subunit. Additionally, protection against misfolding and proteolytic degradation may also be afforded through donor strand complementation.

Association of monomers of CS3 and CS6 was evaluated by visualization of the subunit proteins under denaturing and non-denaturing conditions in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). For both CS3 and CS6 monomers, under denaturing conditions the proteins migrating at the expected sizes. Under non-denaturing conditions multiple size (i.e., ladders) are seen formed by multimeric association of the subunits.

CS6 Fimbriae

CS6 fimbriae comprise CssA and CssB. Whereas the two CS3 major subunits show little to no variation in polypeptide sequences, modest variation in CS6 proteins is observed. For example, greater than 90% identity is found in CS6 protein CssA and greater than 95% identity is found in CssB allotypes. Both CS6 structural proteins exhibit a relatively low level of variation (i.e., greater than 90% amino acid conservation), with greater variation in CssA and the mutations randomly distributed along the CssA polypeptide.

In order to design an effective immunogenic composition that would be suitable for inclusion in a vaccine formulation a number of criteria were devised for determination of suitable constructs. These included the ability to maintain a structure without unwanted self-association or assembly; thermostability; and ability to generate anti-CS6 IgG and IgA antibody levels similar to those elicited by immunization with CS6.

Monomeric CS6 subunit assembly appears to be mediated by donor strands from adjacent CS6 subunits, as discussed above. It is hypothesized that interaction to form these stable structures is mediated by inter-subunit interaction through donor strand complementation. Donor strand complementation also affords protection against misfolding and proteolytic degradation. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment, multimeric CS6 constructs were developed to take advantage of these attributes of donor strand complementation. Additionally, multimeric expression provides more efficient manufacture over production of monomers.

CssA and CssB monomers exhibit similar thermal stability, as illustrated in Table 3. However, as also illustrated in Table 3, dimers of CssA or CssB are generally more thermally stable over larger structures. Additionally, multimers comprising both CssA and CssB were generally more thermally stable than homo-multimers (i.e., comprising only CssA or CssB). Furthermore, multimer constructs with CssB subunit that is N-terminal to CssA were generally more thermally stable over construct containing CssA N-terminal to CssB.

TABLE 3 Tm, ° C. Antigen Purity (CD Spec) dscCssA   95.3% 54 dscCssB   95.5% 58 dscCssAA   95.4% 46 dscCssBB   >99% 58 dscCssAB   98.1% 58 dscCssBA   91.5% 72

From the results illustrated in Table 3, an embodied construct comprises a multimeric CS6 with one or more of the CS6 subunits, CssA and CssB, or allelic variation or derivatives, with the construct design configuration illustrated in FIG. 1. In a preferred embodiment, the construct comprises a dimer of CssB and CssA with CssB N-terminal to CssA (i.e., CssB-CssA).

As illustrated in FIG. 1, or FIG. 2, CS6 subunit association is stabilized by in cis donor β strand complementation. Donor strand complementation is afforded by linking a CS6 subunit at its C-terminus, to the donor β strand region of another CS6 subunit, via a tetrapeptide linker. The linker can be any of a number of polypeptide regions. However, in a preferred embodiment, the linker is either as in SEQ ID No. 5 or a triglyicine linker. In the case of a terminal CS6 subunit, stabilization is provided by donor β strand, connected at its C-terminus, from a homologous or heterologous CS6 subunit. Homologous subunit is defined as two subunits of the same form (e.g., CssA OR CssB). Heteterologous subunits are of different forms (e.g., one is derived from CssA the other from CssB. The CS6 donor β strand is typically the N-terminal 14-16 amino acid region of CS6 subunit. The recombinant protein can be constructed with or without hexahistidine affinity tags, which are typically on the C-terminus.

Additionally, to prevent recombinant polypeptide constructs forming molecular associations resulting in un-desirable non-covalent oligomer formation, in a preferred embodiment, the N-terminal 14-16 amino acids of the N-terminal CS6 subunit is deleted. As an illustration, “dsc_(B14)CssBA” would contain a heterologous donor strand (i.e., “dsc”), from CS6 CssB, inserted at the C-terminus of the construct. In this case, the donor strand is 14 amino acids in length, as indicated by the “14.” Similarly, a constructed designated “ntd₁₅dsc_(A)CssBA” would contain a homologous donor strand at the C-terminus of the construct and also comprises a deletion of the N-terminal amino acid region (termed “ntd”).

Examples of constructs comprise one or more CS6 subunits with amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 2 (CssA) or SEQ ID No. 4 (CssB), or derivatives of these polypeptides. The DNA sequence for CssA is SEQ ID No. 1 and for CssB, SEQ ID No. 3. The subunits are connected by a polypeptide linker sequences. In a preferred embodiment, the linker is a tetrapeptide with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 5.

The evaluation of immune responses by various monomer (FIG. 7) and dimer (FIG. 8) CS6 constructs was conducted. In FIG. 7, rabbits were immunized every 28 days over an 84 day period, with two rabbits per group. The animals were primed with 400 μg and boost three times with 200 μg of either CS6, dscCssA or dscCssB, in Freund's adjuvant. The animals were bled at days 0, 14, 42, 70, 98 and 105. As shown in FIG. 7, CS6 elicits high homologous antibody titer, as well as high anti-CS6 (i.e., CssA or B) subunit titer. Immunization of rabbits with donor strand stabilized CssB (dscCssB) yielded high anti-CS6 and anti-CssB titers. However, immunization with dscCssA elicited somewhat lower anti-CS6 titers and intermediate levels of anti-CssA titers of IgG.

In FIG. 8, heterodimers, homodimers or monomers of CssA and CssB major subunits were used to immunize groups (n=4) of mice. All of the constructs, except CssA and CssAA elicited high IgG anti-CS6 serum antibody titers (FIG. 8D). FIG. 8A shows anti-CssA IgG titer and FIG. 8B shows anti-CssB IgG titer, in response to different CS6 antigens administered (FIG. 8C). As shown in FIG. 8, the dimeric constructs, comprising dscCssB-CssA elicited a somewhat better immune response than either dscCssA-CssB or when both dscCssA or dscCssB were both administered together at 25 μg dose for each monomer. In fact, administration of dscCssBA elicited a similar anti-CssB response as administration of dscCssB (at 25 or 50 μg) and a significantly greater anti-CssA response than when dscCssA was administered at 25 μg or 50 μg. This result is highly advantageous in providing broad anti-CS6 immune coverage while maximizing manufacturing efficiency and cost, over that associated with production of multiple monomers.

The ratio of fold-rise in anti-CS6 IgG serum titer elicited by each construct over that elicited by native CS6 is shown in Table 4. All constructs elicited an immune response at least as good as native CS6. These results illustrate that heterologous donor strand complementation provided the greatest increase in titer.

TABLE 4 dsc_(16B) dsc_(16A) ntd₁₅dsc_(16B) ntd₁₅dsc_(16A) dsc_(16A) Dsc_(16B) ntd₁₅dsc_(16A) ntd₁₅dsc_(16B) CssAB CssAB CssAB CssAB CssBA CssBA CssBA CssBA Fold 1.16 1.14 1.20 1.18 1.20 1.20 1.16 1.22 Increase IgG Fold 0.79 0.86 1.02 0.71 1.00 0.99 1.24 1.23 Increase IgA

As shown in Table 4, the highest ratio was associated with “ntd₁₅dsc_(B)CssBA.” This construct contains a 16 amino acid donor strand region of CssB at the C-terminus of the construct, which is heterologous to the C-terminal subunit (i.e., CssA). The “ntd” illustrates that the construct also has the N-terminal region of CssB deleted in order to prevent self-association.

Also shown in Table 4 is the fold increase of IgA over titers observed in animals vaccinated with CS6 for a number of constructs. For the case of IgA, both ntd₁₅dsc_(16B)CssBA, and ntd₁₅dsc_(A)CssBA, yielded similar titer. However, as discussed above, ntd₁₅dsc_(16A)CssBA, which contains the homologous donor strand on CssA, is likely less stable.

A summary of results of CS6 constructs is shown in Table 5, comparing CssBA against CssAB constructs.

TABLE 5 CssA-CssB CssB-CssA Original¹ Het² ntd³ Both Original Het ntd Both⁴ No. peaks, 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 SE-HPLC (score: 1 peak = 1, >1 peaks = 0) Tm, ° C. (DSC) 58 (0) 70 (2) 59 (0) 60 (1) 68 (2) 74 (3) 74 (3) 75 (3) (Score: <61 = 0, 61-65 = 1, 66-70 = 2, >70 = 3 IgG anti-CS6 5.15 (5.5) 5.05 (8.3) 5.34 (6.8) 5.23 (8.4) 5.33 (5.6) 5.37 (9.4) 5.16 (5.6) 5.44 (9.5) Log₁₀ Titer (Score: Fold rise over CS6 Titer) IgA anti-CS6 2.87 (0.2) 3.10 (1.2) 3.71 (0.1) 2.56 (1.0) 3.62 (0.3) 3.59 (0.9) 4.51 (7.6) 4.47 (6.9) Log₁₀ Titer (Score: Fold rise over CS6 Titer) ¹Original is dsc_(16B)CssA-CssB. ²Het (heterologous) refers to the donor strand origination for the terminal (i.e., C-terminal) subunit. For CssA-CssB, “Het” construct contains a donor strand of 16 amino acids connected at the C-terminus derived from CssA. For CssB-CssA, “Het” construct contains a donor strand of 16 amino acids connected at the C-terminus derived from CssB. ³ntd refers to N-terminal deletion. For CssA-CssB, CssA contains a deletion of 15 amino acids from its N-terminus. For CssB-CssA, CssB contains a deletion of 14 amino acids its N-terminus. ⁴“Both” refers to constructs having both “ntd” and heterologous donor strand complementation of the C-terminal subunit. CS3 Fimbriae

Savarino, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/340,003 (2006) claims donor strand complementation stabilized ETEC constructs. Embodiments of this application incorporate the donor strand stabilization of CstH and adds the second CS3 subunit, CstG. Embodiments herein add additional features found to be important for stabilization of the CS3 subunits and immunogenicity against CS3. CS3 comprises CstH and CstG. The CS3 structural protein CstH is invariant. CstG is also highly conserved, showing 99-100% identity in polypeptide sequence for 39 wildtype CS3 genes sequenced. Similiarly, although some variation CstG is observed, it is also relatively invariant, with 99-100% amino acid conservation.

Evaluation of the immunogenicity of CS3 type fimbrial subunits was evaluated. Mice (BALB/c) were immunized intranasally, with 150 μg per dose in a 3 dose series at two week intervals with either oligomeric CstG or CstH, containing 3-14 subunits or donor strand complemented monomeric CstH or CstG, with or without adjuvant (LTR192G). The response was observed by serum anti-CS3 IgA or IgG and by hemaglutinination inhibition. The results are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

As shown in FIG. 9, monomeric donor strand complemented CstH was poorly immunogenic compared to noncovalently linked oligomers of multimeric CstH (denoted as CstH(i)), possibly due to presentation of linked repeating domains of CstH. In FIG. 9, “i” refers to intein, used in isolation of the oligomer. In contrast, both dscCstG and noncovalently linked oligomers of CstG were immunogenic (FIG. 10), however less so than CS3.

Due to the low immunogenicity of monomeric CstH, studies were conducted to evaluate larger donor strand complemented covalently-linked oligomers. The results of this study are shown in FIG. 11. In FIG. 9, “H” refers to dsc₁₆CstH (His)₆, whereby the construct is in cis donor strand complemented at its C-terminus with a tetrapeptide linker, connected to a 16 amino acide polypeptide sequence of the N-terminal beta strand of CstH. The construct also contains a string of six (6) histidine (His)₆ at its C-terminus. Similarly, H2 refers to dsc₁₆CstH2, whereby the construct comprises two CstH fimbrial subunits linked by a tetrapeptide linker and where the C-terminal CstH is connected, via a tetrapeptide linker, and in cis donor complemented at its C-terminus, to a 16 amino acide polypeptide sequence of the N-terminal beta strand of CstH. Similar constructs are referred to for H3 (but with three tandemly linked CstH fimbrial subunits), H4 (four tandemly linked CstH subunits) and H5 (five tandemly linked CstH subunits).

As illustrated in FIG. 11, increasing the number of tandem CstH subunits was associated with increasing HAI titer. However, dimeric dscCstH elicited a similar HAI titer as the higher size oligomers. Monomeric dscCstH did not elicit a demonstrable HAI titer.

In light of above, since CS3 contains both CstG and CstH, in near equal amounts, dimeric constructs were devised incorporating CstG and CstH, according to the template construct design of FIG. 1. A summary of the results of the analysis of these constructs is illustrated in FIG. 12. In FIG. 12, groups of 8 mice each were vaccinated with 25 μg of the denoted vaccine±LTR 192G adjuvant (100 ng, ID; 1.5 μg, IN) by the intradermal (ID) route in a 3-dose schedule (days 0, 14, 28); with CS3 intranasal (IN) vaccinated group serving as a mucosal vaccination control. Immune responses, as measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) against CS3-ETEC (Panel (A)), and serum IgG anti-CS3 titers (Panel (B)) are shown for serum drawn two weeks after the last dose (day 42). Abbreviations: GH, dsc₁₆CstGH; HG, dsc₁₆CstHG; GHGH, dsc₁₆CstGHGH; HGHG, dsc₁₆CstHGHG; and HHGH, dsc₁₆CstHHGH, where dsc₁₆ refers to a 16 amino acid donor β strand, connected to the C-terminal fimbrial subunit via a tetrapeptide linker. All recombinant fusions were engineered using in cis donor strand complementation.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, the simple molecules “GH” and “HG” elicited similar responses and were both similar to CS3. However, “GH” elicited a somewhat higher response than “HG.” Little response was demonstrable against either CstG or H monomers (data not shown). Therefore, the immune response to dimers was significantly higher than for monomers of CstH or CstG. Furthermore, response to heterodimers is comparable or greater than that observed against tetramers.

Based on these studies, a preferred embodiment for a polypeptide construct that can be used to elicit an immune response against CS3 comprises constructs designed according to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, CS3 constructs comprise one or more CS3 fimbrial subunits connected via a polypeptide linker. The C-terminal fimbrial subunit is connected, via a polypeptide linker, to a donor β strand region of a CS3 fimbrial subunit. The C-terminal donor β strand can be derived from the same CS3 subunit to which it is connect (i.e., homologous) or derived from a different subunit (i.e., heterologous). The polypeptide linker can be any number of polypeptide regions, however, in a preferred embodiment, the linker is a tetrapeptide of the sequence of SEQ ID No. 5, or a triglycine (i.e., G-G-G). The donor β strand region is the N-terminal 14-16 amino acids of the mature CstH or CstG protein. In alternatives of this embodiment, the first 14-18 amino acids of the N-terminal region of the N-terminal most subunit is deleted to avoid undesirable associations.

In a preferred embodiment, the CS3 construct is a dimer. Although other examples are contemplated using the design of FIG. 1, as an illustrative example, the recombinant polypeptide construct can be configured as “dsc_(16CstH)CstG-(linker)-CstH”. In this example, the mature CstG polypeptide (SEQ ID No. 101) or full length polypeptide sequence (SEQ ID No. 87) is connected at its C-terminus to CstH polypeptide (SEQ ID No. 99), via a polypeptide linker. In this example, the CstH polypeptide, is connected, at its C-terminus, to a donor β strand region of 16 amino acids derived from CstH via a polypeptide linker.

Other examples can include constructs, according to FIG. 1. In other examples, the C-terminal donor β strand can be either homologous (derived from the same subunit) or heterologous (derived from a different subunit) to the C-terminal most CS3 fimbrial subunit.

Example 4 Construction of Multipartite Fusion Constructs

Immunity to multiple strains of ETEC is important to obtain the greatest extent of anti-ETEC immunity. Toward this goal, recombinant polypeptide constructs were developed comprising two or more subunits derived from different ETEC fimbrial types according to the design illustrated in FIG. 2 to form multipartite fusion constructs. As used, herein, multipartite fusion or multipartite fusion constructs are recombinant polypeptide constructs according to FIG. 2. In this design, different ETEC fimbrial types are defined as fimbrial proteins derived from fimbriae of different strain ETEC types, as listed in Table 6, or deriviates of these polypeptides or DNA sequences. For example, the fimbrial type “CS3” comprises CstH and CstG. The fimbrial type “C56” comprises CssA and CssB. The fimbrial types of Class 5 ETEC include the fimbrial types Class 5a, Class 5b and Class 5c.

In a preferred embodiment, major and/or minor subunits, derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type are connected, via polypeptide linkers, and stabilized by donor β strand complementation, as illustrated in FIG. 1 and Examples 1-4. A multipartite fusion comprises one or more fimbrial subunits of the same fimbrial type, as in FIG. 1, connected to one or more fimbrial subunits derived from a different fimbrial type as illustrated in FIG. 2.

In one embodiment, the multipartite fusion construct can include a deletion of the N-terminal region of one or more fimbrial subunits, but is preferably on the N-terminal most fimbrial subunit for a given ETEC fimbrial type, as illustrated in FIG. 2. This feature prevents undesirable associations with other monomers or multimers. The size of the deletion of the N-terminal region is 14 to 18 amino acids. In other embodiments, multipartite fusion constructs comprising Class 5 adhesins do not contain a deletion of the N-terminal region.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the C-terminal subunit, for an ETEC fimbrial type, is connected to and stabilized by a donor β strand, connected to the subunit via a polypeptide linker, wherein the donor β strand is either that derived from the adjacent subunit (i.e., homologous) or from a different subunit of the same fimbrial type (i.e., heterologous). The size of the N-terminal donor strand depends on the fimbrial type and subunit stabilized. In preferred embodiments, for class 5 fimbrial subunits, the donor β strand, derived from the N-terminal region of the class 5 subunit stabilized, is 12 to 16 amino acids. For CS3 and CS6 subunits, the donor β strand is 14 to 16 amino acids. As mentioned above, the construct can contain a deletion of the N-terminal region of the N-terminal subunit. This feature prevents undesirable associations with other monomers or multimers. The size of the deletion of the N-terminal region is 14 to 18 amino acids.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 multiple constructs as in FIG. 1 are connected forming a recombinant polypeptide construct comprising two or more ETEC fimbrial types. In this way, one or more major or minor subunits, derived from the same ETEC fimbrial type, are connected via polypeptide linkers and stabilized by donor strand complementation. In another embodiment, one or more glycine residues separates different ETEC fimbrial types, acting as a “swivel” means between the ETEC types. The glycine residue, due to its small, unbranched molecular characteristics, enables rotary freedom of the molecular components. Subunits derived from the same fimbrial type (as in FIG. 1) are connected by a polypeptide linker, with the subunits stabilized by donor strand complementation. As shown in FIG. 2, the C-terminal subunit of each ETEC fimbrial type is stabilized by a donor β strand that is homologous or heterologous to the C-terminal subunit of that fimbrial type.

In other embodiments, the construct can contain an N-terminal deletion at the N-terminus of the entire construct as well as an additional deletion, of 14 to 18 amino acids, at the N-terminus of the first “internal” subunit that is of a different fimbrial type. This is illustrated in FIG. 2. In the case of the deletion on the N-terminus of the “internal” subunit, the deletion serves to shorten the length between subunits, thus reducing the likelihood of misfolding and proteolytic cleavage. In another embodiment, a donor strand, derived from a homologous or heterologous subunit, is inserted at the C-terminus of the C-terminal CS6 or CS3 subunit. For class 5 fimbrial subunits, the donor β strand, derived from the N-terminal region of the class 5 subunit that is stabilized, is 12 to 16 amino acids. For example, in preferred embodiments, CfaB is stabilized by a 14 amino acid donor β strand; CsfA by a 14 amino acid donor β strand; CsbA by a 15 amino acid donor β strand, CooA by a 14 amino acid donor β strand and CotA by a 14 amino acid donor β strand. For CS3 and CS6 subunits, the donor β strand is 14 to 16 amino acids, with preferred embodiments of CS3 fimbrial subunits (i.e., CstH or CstG) stabilized by a 16 amino acid donor β strand derived from CstH or CstG; and CS6 fimbrial subunits (i.e., CssA or CssB) stabilized with a 16 amino acid donor β strand derived from CssA or CssB. However, other donor β strand lengths are envisioned.

The inventive compositions can utilize different linker sequences. In a preferred embodiment, the linker contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 5. In another embodiment, the linker is a tri-glycine linker. In other embodiments, the C-terminal end of the construct contains a histidine tag for purification of the construct.

In the inventive construct, in cis donor strand complementation is used to stabilize adhesins and adhesin-pilin fusions for representative Class 5a, 5b, and 5c adhesins. For each adhesin target group, in a preferred embodiment, the compositions are constructed with the intent of eliciting anti-adhesive immune responses. Further towards this goal, Class 5 multipartite fusions comprising Class 5 adhesin minor subunits are typically construct such that the adhesin (i.e., minor fimbrial subunit) is located at the N-terminus of the constructed with the minor fimbrial subunit linked at its C-terminus to one or more major subunits, followed at the terminal end of the construct with the donor β-strand of the last major subunit.

Other embodiments include constructs comprising Class 5a adhesin CfaE tandemly linked at its C-terminus to one or more of CfaB (CFA/I major subunit), CsuA2 (CS14 major subunit) and CsfA (CS4 major subunit); Class 5b adhesin CsbD tandemly linked at its C-terminus to one or more of CsbA (CS17 major subunit), which shares high identity to the CS19 pilin subunit CsdA, and CooA (CS1 major subunit), which shares high identity to the PCFO71 pilin subunit CosA; and Class 5c adhesin CotD tandemly linked at its C-terminus to CotA (CS2 major subunit).

Embodiments of ETEC multipartite fusion constructs are illustrated in Table 7 and 8. In this embodiment, constructs comprise any major or minor ETEC fimbrial subunit from Table 6 in multiple combinations, connected by linker polypeptides and stabilized from proteolytic degradation by donor strand complementation utilizing the design illustrated in FIG. 2. Table 6 lists the ETEC fimbrial subunits (major and minor subunits) than can be used and incorporated into the multipartite fusion construct design of FIG. 2. Any subunit, therefore, is combined with one or more other ETEC major subunits from any ETEC fimbrial phenotypic type, including Class 5a, 5b, 5c, CS3 and CS6.

The recombinant polypeptide construct motif comprises a whole or immunogenic fragment of a minor or major ETEC fimbrial subunit connected at its C-terminal end to a linker. The linker is connected at its C-terminus to a whole major ETEC fimbrial subunit or a polypeptide donor strand of an ETEC major structural subunit, derived from the same fimbrial type. The whole ETEC major subunit or donor strand polypeptide is then connected, via a linker at its C-terminal end, to one or more additional major structural fimbrial subunits, derived from the same fimbrial type, from Table 6.

TABLE 6 SEQ ID No. Immune Full length sequences SEQ ID No. coverage including spd¹ Mature sequences fimbria/ types) Subunit (DNA/polypeptide)) (DNA/polypeptide)² Class 5a CfaE  56/57 115/58  CfaB  59/60 116/61  CsfD  64/65 117/88  CsfA  62/63 118/89  CsuD  70/71 119/90  CsuA2  68/69 120/91  CsuA1  66/67 121/92  Class 5b CooD  74/75 122/93  CooA  72/73 123/94  CsdD  78/79 124/95  CsdA  76/77 125/96  Cos D  82/83 133/97  CosA  80/81 126/98  CsbD  44/45 127/46  CsbA  47/48 128/49  Class 5c CotD  50/51 129/52  CotA  53/54 130/55  CS3 CstH  84/85 131/99  CstG  86/87 132/101 CS6 CssA 134/135 1/2 CssB 136/137 3/4 ¹“spd” refers to signal peptide. The mature polypeptide sequence, therefore, would be the full length minus the signal peptide. ²DNA sequence encodes mature protein.

The strategy for selecting and developing specific genetic fusion constructs is guided, in part, by the phylogenetic and antigenic relatedness of subunits. For example, constructs containing Class 5a, 5b and 5c pilin subunits are selected based on the relatedness of minor and major subunits within a particular ETEC fimbrial class (i.e., class 5a, 5b or 5c), as illustrated in FIG. 3. As such, adhesin (i.e., minor fimbrial subunit) from a specific fimbrial type (e.g., Class 5a) are linked to Class 5a major subunits. Further selection of subunits is guided and based on epidemiological study analysis in order to achieve optimum immunogenic coverage of ETEC strains.

The examples of multipartite constructs listed in Table 7 and 8 are further illustrated in FIG. 13 (for CS3 constructs) and FIG. 14 (for CS6 constructs). In these figures, the linker polypeptide, depending on the example construct, can comprise a four (4) amino acid sequence (tetrapeptide) or a tri-glycine. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the subunits are interconnected and stabilized by donor strand complementation, which is denoted, as in Table 7 and 8, by “dsc”. In this nomenclature, the fimbrial subunit derivation is also indicated. For example, in the construct “dsc_(16CstH) CstG-CstH-(G)-ntd₁₅dsc_(16CssA)CssA-CssB”, the N-terminal CS3 subunit “CstG” is connected, via a linker, to the CS3 subunit “CstH”, which is connected, via a linker, to a donor strand of 16 amino acids derived from “CstH.” Similarly, the N-terminal CS6 subunit “CssB” is connected, via a linker, as illustrated in FIG. 2, to a 16 amino acid donor strand derived from “CssA.” In this example, donor strand complementation of the “CssB” subunit is via a heterologous donor strand (i.e., derived from “CssA).”

In Table 7 and 8 and FIGS. 14 and 15, the examples contain a “G” (i.e., glycine) to provide a “swivel.” Also, in some examples, the N-terminal region of N-terminal CS6 subunit is deleted (delineated by “ntd”) to avoid undesirable association with other CS6 subunits, as described above. It should be noted that, in addition to the examples illustrated in Table 7 or 8, other combinations of major and minor subunits are contemplated utilizing the construct design illustrated in FIG. 2 and the fimbrial subunits of Table 6. In some sequences listed, a six (6) histidine (i.e., His₆) tag is inserted. The constructs can be designed to include the histidine (i.e., His₆) tag or designed without this tag region. Additionally, some sequences contain the signal peptide (designated “spd” in Table 2 and 3) region. Constructs can be constructed with or without this region, as well, which may be added to improve manufacturing efficiency of the multipartite fusion construct.

TABLE 7 Fimbrial type (SEQ ID No. DNA/Protein) Examples of CS3 containing constructs^(1,2,4,5) Class 5a/CS3 (6/7) dsc_(14CfaB)-CfaE-CfaB-(G³)-ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH Class 5a/CS3 (8/9) dsc_(14CsfA)CfaE-CfaB-CsuA2-CsfA-(G)- ntd₁₈dsc16_(CstH)CstG-CstH Class 5b/CS3 dsc_(14csbA)CsbD-CsbA-ntd₁₅dsc_(14CooA)CooA- (10/11) (G)-ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH Class 5c/CS3 dsc_(14CotA)CotD-CotA-(G)-ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH (12/13) CS3/toxin fusion dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH-sCTA2 (36/37) LTB multimeric LTB₅ composition (38/39) CS3/CS6 (14/15) dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH-(G)-ntd₁₅dsc_(16CssA)CssA-CssB CS6/CS3 (34/35) ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA-(G)- ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH ¹All combinations can include a histidine (i.e., His₆) at the C-terminal end. ²Subunits can be linked via either DNKQ or tri-glycine linker. ³(G) refers to glycine residue introduced to provide a “swivel.” ⁴“ntd” refers to N-terminal deletion (excised from mature protein) with extent of deletion (i.e., amino acids) indicated. ⁵“dsc” refers to span of N-terminal residues from donor β-strand, its amino acid length and its source.

TABLE 8 Fimbrial type (SEQ ID No. DNA/Protein) Examples of CS6 containing constructs CS6/CS3 ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA-(G)-ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH (34/35) CS3/CS6 dsc₁₆CstG-CstH-(G)-ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA (32/33) Class 5b/CS6 spd₁₉ dsc_(14CotA)CotD-CotA-(G)-ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)-CssB-CssA (28/29) Class 5b/CS6 dsc_(14CotA)CotD-CotA-(G)-ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)-CssB-CssA (30/31) Class5b/CS6 spd₁₉dsc_(15CsbA)CsbD-(GGG)-CsbA-(GGG)-ntd₁₄dsc_(14cooA)CooA-(G)- (24/25) (GGG)-ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA Class 5b/CS6 dsc_(15CsbA)CsbD-(GGG)-CsbA-(GGG)-ntd₁₄dsc_(14CooA)CooA-(G)-(GGG)- (26/27) ntd₁₄dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA Class 5a/CS6 dsc_(14CfaB)CfaE-CfaB-(G)-ntd₁₆dsc_(16CssA)CssB-CssA (16/17) Class 5a/CS6 dsc_(14CfaB)CfaE-CfaB-(G)-ntd₁₆dsc_(16CssB)CssB-CssA (113/114) Class 5a/CS6 dsc_(14CfaB)CfaE-CfaB-(G)-ntd₁₆dsc_(16CssB)CssA-CssB (18/19) Class 5a/CS6 dsc_(14CfaB)CfaE-CfaB-(G)-ntd₁₆dsc_(16CssA)CssA-CssB (111/112) CS3/CS6 dsc_(16CssA)CssA-CssB-(G)-ntd₁₈dsc_(16CstH)CstG-CstH (101/102) Class 5a/CS6 dsc_(14CsfA)CfaE-CfaB-CsuA2-CsfA-(G)-ntd₁₄dscCssB-CssA (22/23) Class 5a/CS6 spd₂₂dsc_(14CsfA)CfaE-CfaB-CsuA2-CsfA-(G)-ntd₁₄dscCssB-CssA (20/21) CS6-chimera ntd₁₄dsc16_(CssB)CssB-CssA-sCTA2 (40/41) CS6-chimera ntd₁₅dsc16_(CssA)CssA-CssB-sCTA2 (42/43) ¹All combinations can include a histidine (i.e., His₆) at the C-terminal end. ²Subunits can be linked via either DNKQ or tri-glycine (GGG) linker. In preferred embodiments, DNKQ is used, except where indicated with (GGG). ³(G) refers to glycine residue introduced to provide a swivel. ⁴“spd” refers signal peptide. Number indicates number of amino acids. ⁵“ntd” refers to N-terminal deletion (excised from mature protein) with extent of deletion (i.e., amino acids) indicated. ⁶“dsc” refers to span of N-terminal residues from donor β-strand, its amino acid length and its source.

Example 5 ETEC Fimbrial Subunit—Toxin Chimeric Constructs

In another embodiment, recombinant polypeptide constructs can contain a C-terminal toxin A subunit, such as cholera toxin A2 (CTA) to form a chimeric molecule. In this embodiment, a full-length or truncated CTA2 is connected to CS6 or CS3 multimeric recombinant polypeptide construct, such as a CS6 or CS3 dimer.

Examples of these toxin constructs are illustrated in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 (and in Table 7 and 8). In these constructs, the LTB gene and the CS3 or CS6—toxin chimera are separately expressed. LTB, once expressed, would self assemble to form a pentameric structure. The ensuing LTB multimeric composition (i.e., LTB₅) and CS3 or CS6—toxin chimera then non-covalently associate to form a holotoxin-like heterohexamer.

Although other examples are contemplated, the sequences of examples of illustrative chimeric constructs, containing a C-terminal toxin component, are illustrated in Table 7 (for CS3) and 8 (for CS6).

For CS3-chimeric molecules, one or more CS3 fimbrial subunits are connected, as in FIG. 1, via a polypeptide linker, preferably a tetrapeptide or triglycine. The C-terminal most CS3 fimbrial subunit is then connected to a donor β strand, via a polypeptide linker. The donor strand can be homologous or heterologous to the C-terminal fimbrial subunit. The donor strand is then connected to a toxin fragment, such as CTA2. The CS3-chimera example shown in Table 7, comprise the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID No. 37, which is encoded by the DNA sequence of SEQ ID No. 36. In this example, the N-terminal fimbrial subunit is CstG with a pelB leader (22 amino acids) connected at its N-terminal end (see FIG. 13). However, different ordering of CS3 fimbrial subunit units is contemplated. Also, in this example, the CstH is connected, via a polypeptide linker, to a 16 amino acid donor strand derived from the N-terminal 16 amino acids of CstH, which is connected to an A2 toxin fragment (i.e., CTA2). In a preferred embodiment, LTB is also expressed. LTB comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 39 and is encoded by the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No. 38. Once expressed, the LTB sequence would self assemble into a pentamer and associate, non-covalently, with the CS3-chimera to form a hetero-hexameric holotoxin-like structure.

CS6 toxin chimera examples are also illustrated in Table 8 and FIG. 14. For CS6 chimeras, as in CS3, one or more CS6 fimbrial subunits are connected via a polypeptide linker, preferably a tetrapeptide or triglycine. The C-terminal most CS6 fimbrial subunit is then connected to a donor β strand, via a polypeptide linker. The donor strand can be homologous or heterologous to the C-terminal fimbrial subunit. The donor strand is then connected to a toxin component (e.g., CTA2). In a preferred embodiment, like for CS3, the chimera is co-expressed, with LTB, which self assembles into a pentamer to form a non-covalent association with the chimeric adhesion-toxoid fusion molecule.

Although many additional combinations are possible, in the examples shown in Table 8, the constructs are dimers of CS6 subunits, connected via a tetrapeptide linker, with the C-terminal fimbrial subunit connected, via a tetrapeptide linker to a donor β strand. The donor β strand can be homologous or heterologous to the C-terminal most fimbrial subunit. However, in the examples in Table 8 the donor strands are heterologous to the C-terminal fimbrial subunit. The donor strand is then connected to a cholera toxin A2 (CTA2) subunit. The polypeptide sequences of one of the examples is as in SEQ ID No. 43, which is encoded by the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID Nos. 42. In this example, the N-terminal subunit is CssA, with the N-terminal 15 amino acids of the mature CssA sequence deleted. In this example, a pelB leader sequence (22 amino acids) was also added, which is illustrated in FIG. 14.

Example 6 Anti-CS3 and anti-CS6 Immune Response of Multipartite Recombinant Polypeptide Construct

In a preferred embodiment, in order to obtain broad anti-ETEC immunity, recombinant polypeptide constructs comprising fimbrial subunits derived from multiple ETEC fimbrial types were constructed, as described in Example 5. As mentioned above, broad immunogenicity in a single construct is highly advantageous due to ease of manufacture and standardization of administration, compared to compositions comprising multiple individual components.

The multipartite examples listed in Table 7 and 8 maintained immunity to each of its fimbrial components. As an illustrative example, the recombinant, multipartite fusion CsbDA-CooA-CstGH retains immunogenicity against the fimbrial subunits of the multiple fimbrial types, i.e., Class 5b and CS3. FIG. 15 illustrates the immunogenicity of the multiple fimbrial components of the construct CsbDA-CooA-CstGH, comprising fimbrial subunits derived from ETEC Class 5b, and CS3.

In FIG. 15, CsbDA-CooA-CstGH, comprises a tandem fusion (from N- to C-terminus) of CsbD, CsbA (adhesin and pilin subunits of CS17 fimbriae, respectively), CooA (pilin subunit of CS1 fimbriae), CstG and CstH (two major subunits of CS3), wherein each subunit is stabilized by in cis donor strand complementation.

In the study, groups of 5-8 BALB/c mice were vaccinated intradermally with the multipartite fusion or an admixture of CsbDA-CooA and CstGH (‘CsbDA-CooA+CstGH’), the individual component proteins at molar equivalent doses (all matched to a 25 μg dose of CsbDA-CooA-CstGH), and co-administered with the adjuvant LTR192G (100 ng). Mice were vaccinated two times at 0 and 21 days. The displayed titers are from serum collected at day 32.

Panel A shows hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against CS3-ETEC (upper), CS17-ETEC (middle), and CS1-ETEC (lower graph). As illustrated in FIG. 15, significant elevation of CS3-ETEC HAI titers were elicited by all preparations, with modestly higher titers observed with CstGH alone. Both the multipartite fusion and admixture preparations elicited similarly elevated HAI titers against CS17-ETEC and CS1-ETEC. Panel B shows serum IgG and IgA titers against CS3 (upper two graphs), and IgG and IgA anti-CsbD titers (lower two graphs). Similarly high serum anti-CS3 titers were elicited by all preparations containing CstGH, including the multipartite fusion. Both the multipartite fusion and admixture preparations elicited high anti-CsbD IgG titers, while only the fusion elicited detectable IgA anti-CsbD titers. Data is displayed as the geometric mean titer plus standard error of the mean. The horizontal dotted line in each graph shows the limit of assay detection.

The immune response of the CS3 component in several examples, described in FIG. 13, is summarized in FIG. 16. The immune induction following the administration of CS3 or CS3 donor strand complementation stabilized constructs was evaluated. In this study, mice were immunized intradermally on day 0 and day 21 and bled on day 28. The IgG and IgA antibody titer induced by a representative number of ETEC constructs, listed in Table 9, was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). As illustrated in FIG. 16, similar levels of IgG and IgA anti-CS3 immune responses were elicited by each of the multipartite fusion constructs. Also shown in FIG. 16 is the induction of an anti-CS3 response by a dscCsGH-CTA2/LTB adhesion-toxoid chimera (see Example 5).

TABLE 9 Group Family/ Adj. # Class Antigen 1* Antigen 2 (100 ng) Role Legend 1 CS3 dscCstGH — mLT Pos. control GH 2 5a dscCfaEB-CsuA2-CsfA- — mLT Test Fusion CstGH 3 5a dscCfaEB-CsuA2-CsfA dscCstGH mLT Test Admix 4 5b dscCsbDA-CooA-CstGH — mLT Test Fusion 5 5b dscCsbDA-CooA dscCstGH mLT Test Admix 6 5c CotDA-CstGH — mLT Test Fusion 7 5c CotDA dscCstGH mLT Test Admix 8 CS6 dscCssAB-CstGH mLT Test Fusion 9 CS6 dscCssAB dscCstGH mLT Test Admix 10 CS3 dscCstGH-sCTA2/LTB₅ — — Test Chimera 11 CS3 dscCstGH-sCTA2/LTB₅ — mLT Test Chimera 12 CS3 dscCstGH LTB mLT Test Admix 13 — 20 μL PBS — — Neg. PBS control *molar-matched to 7 μL of dscCstGH

FIG. 17 summarizes the results of studies evaluating the ability of different ETEC multipartite fusion constructs to inhibit mannose resistant hemagglutination in hemagglutination inhibition assays (HAI). The constructs evaluated are listed in Table 9.

In determining HAI, the bacterial strain (CS3⁺ ETEC strain WS2010A) was used at a concentration corresponding to two times the minimal hemagglutination titer (2×MHT). The MHT was determined at the start of the HAI assay by making serial two-fold dilutions of the bacterial suspension. A total of 25 μL of each dilution was added to equal volumes of 3% erythrocyte suspension and PBS with a 0.5% D-mannose and rocked on ice. The MHT was defined as the reciprocal of the lowest concentration of bacterial showing at least 1⁺ MRHA.

To determine the HAI titer of each antiserum preparation, a two-fold dilution series of antibody was made. A 25 μL volume of each dilution was add to an equal volume of 2×MHT bacterial suspension and pre-incubated at room temperature with rocking for 20 minutes. An equal volume of erythrocyte suspension (3%) was then added to each well and rocked on ice for 20 minutes, after which the MRHA was scored. The HAI titer is expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution of antiserum that completely inhibited MRHA.

As illustrated in FIG. 17(A), no inhibition was exhibited by PBS. However, dscCstG-CstH (dscCstGH) and CstGH multipartite fusion constructs exhibited significant HAI. Interestingly, similar HAI was exhibited whether CstGH was a component of a fusion construct or was part of an admixture of the two components. This is graphically illustrated in Panel B in FIG. 17.

The results collectively illustrate that inclusion of fimbrial subunits from different fimbrial types as a multipartite construct generates a strong immune response against the component fimbrial subunits. As mentioned, a single fusion construct comprising multiple dimers from strains affords a broader spectrum of immunity, with greater standardization of administration. Furthermore, manufacture of a single construct is preferred over multiple constructs.

Multipartite constructs of comprising class 5 and CS6 subunits were also prepared and evaluated for reactivity for anti-CS6 immunogenicity. In these studies mice were immunized against different constructs, containing ETEC Class 5, and CS6 subunits, with or without the adjuvant mLT (genetically modified heat-labile enterotoxin).

As an illustrative example, the results of the immune response to components of the multipartite fusion construct CfaEB-CssBA is shown in FIG. 18. In FIG. 18, CfaEB-CssBA, comprises a tandem fusion (from N- to C-terminus) of CfaE, CfaB (minor and major subunits of CFA/I fimbriae, respectively), CssB and CssA (two major subunits of CS6), wherein each subunit is stabilized by in cis donor strand complementation.

In FIG. 18, Groups of eight BALB/c mice were vaccinated intradermally with the multipartite fusion or an admixture of CfaEB and CssBA (‘CfaEB+CssBA’), the individual component proteins at molar equivalent doses (all matched to a 25 μg dose of CfaEB-CssBA), and co-administered with the adjuvant LTR192G (100 ng). Mice were vaccinated three times at 0, 14, and 28 days. The displayed titers are from serum collected at day 42.

Panel A displays hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers against CFA/1-ETEC (upper), and CS14-ETEC (lower graph). Similarly elevated homologous (CFA/1-ETEC) and within subclass heterologous (CS14-ETEC) HAI titers were observed after vaccination with the multipartite fusion, the admixture, and CfaEB alone (historical control).

Panel B shows serum IgG titers against CS6 (upper), CFA/I fimbriae (middle) and dscCfaE (lower) adhesin. Similarly high serum anti-CS6 titers were elicited by all preparations containing CssBA, including the multipartite fusion. Likewise, all preparations containing CfaEB, including the multipartite fusion, elicited high anti-CFA/I and anti-CfaE (i.e., anti-adhesin) IgG titers, while CssBA predictably did not elicit anti-CfaE IgG titers. Data is displayed as the geometric mean titer+standard error of the mean. The horizontal dotted line in each graph shows the limit of assay detection.

The results summarized in FIG. 18 illustrate that the construct (i.e., multipartite fusion) retains the ability to elicit an immune response to its multiple fimbrial components, specifically fimbrial subunits derived from ETEC Class 5a, and CS6.

Collectively, the results with CS6 multipartite constructs shows that no interference from the multiple construct components (i.e., each derived from different fimbrial types) resulted in interference.

As shown in FIG. 19, the CS6 subunits CssA and CssB, as heterodimers, elicit a potent IgG response against the individual CS6 subunits. In FIG. 19, Panel A illustrates the antigens administered. Panel B shows the anti-CS6 IgG response, for either CssA or CssB, elicited against the administered antigenic construct shown along the x-axis.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the CS6 subunits fused to Class 5 subunits (i.e., groups 2-5) elicit a similar or even higher antibody response to the CS6 subunits in comparision to admixture of CfaEB and CssAB or CssBA (i.e., groups 6 and 7). The IgA response is shown in FIG. 20, for the same panel of antigens as in FIG. 19.

The above results illustrate that no interference from the non-CS6 subunit components occurs as a result of the fusion constructs, with modestly higher anti-CS6 responses observed for CssBA, compared with CssAB, especially for IgA. As such, the results, as well as those summarized in FIG. 15-18, indicate the operability of the constructs to elicit a strong immune response against the constitutent components of the multipartite fusion constructs.

Example 7 Method for the Induction of Immunity to ETEC Recombinant Polypeptide Construct

The adhesins are an important component for the induction of diarrheagenic E. coli bacterial immunity. An aspect of this invention is the construction of stable polypeptide constructs for use as immunogens against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli mediated diarrhea.

Protection against pathology caused by ETEC can be mediated by inhibition of colonization of bacteria by blocking fimbriae-mediated adhesion, and therefore bacterial colonization by induction of a specific B-cell response to adhesin polypeptide regions. Another aspect of this invention, therefore, is the induction of immunity by administration of a conformationally-stable polypeptide construct. An additional aspect is the ability to induce immunity in mammals, such as in humans, against as many ETEC types as possible. For ease of administering of immunogens and production, it is highly advantageous to construct containing as many immunogens against as many ETEC types as possible.

Recombinant polypeptide constructs produced using the design of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, as well as the examples listed in FIGS. 13 and 14, can be used in formulations for the induction of immunity to multiple ETEC types.

In one embodiment, constructs as immunogen, constructed based on FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2 or the examples given in FIGS. 13 and 14, comprise the following steps:

-   -   a. priming by administration of an immunogenic composition         containing the polypeptide construct described in Examples 1         through 6, above. The immunogenic composition can be         administered orally, nasally, subcutaneously, intradermally,         transdermally, sublingually, transcutaneously intramuscularly,         or rectally. The range of a unit dose of immunogen is 1 μg to 1         mg of the polypeptide construct. The immunogenic composition can         be administered in any number of solutions with or without         carrier protein or adjuvant or adsorbed onto particles such as         microspheres;     -   b. Subsequent to a priming dose, 2 to 4 boosting doses are also         administered with unit dose range of 1 μg to 1 mg of polypeptide         construct in a buffered aqueous solution or other suitable         solution.

An alternative vaccine approach is the administration of a recombinant DNA construct capable of expressing the recombinant polypeptide. In this example, the recombinant DNA encoding the immunogen is inserted into a suitable expression system and expressed in host bacterial cells. The recombinant host cells can then be administered as a whole cell vaccine in order to confer immunity not only to the host cell but against the expressed ETEC recombinant adhesin polypeptides. Representative host cells include, but are not limited to Escherichia coli, members of the genus Shigella, members of the genus Campylobacter, members of the genus Salmonella, and members of the genus Vibrio including Vibrio cholerae.

A method for the induction of whole cell immunity contains the following steps:

-   -   a. administration of a priming dose of comprising an adequate         number of whole cell bacteria, containing DNA encoding and         capable of expressing the polypeptide construct described in         Examples 1 through 6, above, whereby the bacteria are selected         from the group consisting of Escherchia coli, Shigella spp,         Salmonella spp, Camplylobacter spp, Vibrio spp and Vibrio         cholera.     -   b. Subsequent to priming dose, administration of 1 to 4 boosting         doses of whole cell bacteria, selected from the group consisting         of Escherchia coli, Shigella spp, Camplylobacter spp, Vibrio spp         and Vibrio cholerae, containing and capable of expressing DNA         encoding the recombinant polypeptide described in Examples 1         through 6, above. Alternatively, the boosting doses can be         protein comprising the recombinant polypeptide described in         Examples 1 through 6, above, at unit dose range of 1 μg to 1 mg         of immunogen in a buffered aqueous solution.

Having described the invention, one of skill in the art will appreciate in the appended claims that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore, to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A recombinant polypeptide construct comprising a whole or immunogenic fragment of an Escherichia coli fimbrial minor or major subunit connected to one or more major fimbrial subunits or immunogenic fragments, thereof, of the same fimbrial type, via a polypeptide linker, and wherein each of the one or more major fimbrial subunits contain a donor β strand and are also connected to each other via a polypeptide linker, wherein the C-terminal Escherichia coli fimbrial major subunit is connected, via a linker, to a C-terminal donor β strand derived from a major Escherichia coil fimbrial subunit that is homologous or heterologous to the immediately N-terminal major subunit and wherein said composition can comprise a histidine tag at the C-terminus.
 2. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein fimbrial types are selected from fimbriae derived from Escherichia coli selected from the group consisting of class 5a, class 5b, class 5c, CS3 and CS6.
 3. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein donor β strand contains 12 to 16 amino acids.
 4. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein said N-terminus of said minor or major subunit contains an 18-22 amino acid signal peptide.
 5. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence of said polypeptide linker is SEQ ID No. 5 or a tri-glycine.
 6. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein one or more major subunits contain a deletion of the 14 to 18 N-terminal amino acids.
 7. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein said construct is connected to one or more constructs, according to claim 1, wherein each of the constructs contain fimbrial subunits derived from a different fimbrial type than any of the other constructs and wherein the recombinant polypeptide construct can contain a C-terminal histidine tag.
 8. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein the C-terminal homologous or heterologous donor β strand is connected, via a polypeptide linker, to a bacterial toxin to form a chimeric molecule and wherein said bacterial toxin is noncovalently connected to a bacterial toxin multimeric composition.
 9. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 1, wherein said Escherichia coli fimbrial minor subunit is selected from the group consisting of CfaE, CsfD, CsuD, CooD, CsbD, CosD, CsdD, CotD and wherein said major subunit is selected from the group consisting of CfaB, CsfA, CsuA2, CooA, CsdA, CosA, CsbA, CotA, CstG, CstH, CssA, and CssB, or immunogenic fragments or derivatives, thereof.
 10. The recombinant polypeptide of claim 7, wherein said constructs are connected via one or more glycine residues.
 11. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein said donor β strand contains 12 to 16 amino acids.
 12. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein said N-terminus of said minor or major subunit contains an 18-22 amino acid signal peptide.
 13. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein one or more major subunits contain a deletion of the N-terminal 14 to 18 amino acids.
 14. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein said minor or major Escherichia coli fimbrial subunits are derived from ETEC strains selected from the group consisting of Class 5, CS3 and CS6.
 15. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein said Escherichia coli fimbrial minor subunit is selected from the group consisting of CfaE, CsfD, CsuD, CooD, CsbD, CosD, CsdD, CotD and wherein said major subunit is selected from the group consisting of CfaB, CsfA, CsuA1, CsuA2, CooA, CsdA, CosA, CsbA, CotA, CstG, CstH, CssA, and CssB, or immunogenic fragments, or derivatives thereof.
 16. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 7, wherein the amino acid sequence of said linker is SEQ ID No. 5 or a triglyicine.
 17. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 8, wherein said bacterial toxin is cholera toxin and wherein said multimeric bacterial composition is LTB₅, wherein said construct has the amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 37, 41, and 43 and wherein said bacterial toxin multimeric composition has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No.
 39. 18. The recombinant polypeptide of claim 9, wherein said amino acid sequence of said Escherichia coli fimbrial minor subunit is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID Nos. 45, 46, 51, 52, 57, 58, 65, 71, 75, 79, 83, 88, 90, 93, 95, and 97, or derivatives thereof, and wherein said amino acid sequence of said Escherichia colifimbrial major subunit is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID Nos. 2, 4, 48, 49, 54, 55, 60, 61, 63, 67, 69, 73, 77, 81, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92, 94, 96, 98, 99, 101, 135, and 137, or derivatives thereof.
 19. The recombinant polypeptide of claim 9, wherein said minor subunit is encoded by the nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 44, 50, 56, 64, 70, 74, 78, 82, 115, 117, 119, 122, 124, 127, 129, and 133, or derivatives, thereof, and wherein said major subunit is encoded by the nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 1, 3, 47, 53, 59, 62, 66, 68, 72, 76, 80, 84, 86, 116, 118, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 134, and 136, or derivatives thereof.
 20. The recombinant polypeptide construct of claim 10, wherein said construct is encoded by the nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 36, 40 and 42 and wherein said bacterial toxin multimeric composition has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No.
 38. 21. The recombinant polypeptide of claim 15, wherein said amino acid sequence of said Escherichia coli fimbrial minor subunit is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID Nos. 45, 46, 51, 52, 57, 58, 65, 71, 75, 79, 83, 88, 90, 93, 95, and 97, or derivatives thereof, and wherein said amino acid sequence of said Escherichia coli fimbrial major subunit is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID Nos. 2, 4, 48, 49, 54, 55, 60, 61, 63, 67, 69, 73, 77, 81, 85, 87, 89, 91, 92, 94, 96, 98, 99, 101, 135, and 137, or derivatives thereof.
 22. The recombinant polypeptide of claim 15, wherein said minor subunit is encoded by the nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 44, 50, 56, 64, 70, 74, 78, 82, 115, 117, 119, 122, 124, 127, 129, and 133, or derivatives thereof, and wherein said major subunit is encoded by the nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 1, 3, 47, 53, 59, 62, 66, 68, 72, 76, 80, 84, 86, 116, 118, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 134, and 136, or derivatives thereof. 